Four years ago, Rob McMillan asked me to build a chart with all the DTC vendors, to coincide with the annual SVB Report. The first report was an interesting challenge and became a labor of love. With few exceptions — and aside from the format improvements from Erica Gomez —…

I don’t write about wine. Not in the traditional sense. I write about the business of wine. My observations. The evolution of the market and the shortcomings of the system. It’s not that I don’t enjoy wine. I do. And it’s not that I don’t appreciate the nuances and beauty…

With the world upside down and all traffic to winery tasting rooms on pause, many wineries are quickly moving towards e-commerce. However, with so many vendors in the industry, it can make finding the right one daunting. Here are a few tips when choosing a wine industry e-com partner. References…

Welcome to our third year of building this Winery DTC Vendor Update releasing the same day, and in support of, the Annual SVB State of the Union report. This project is a tremendous amount of work, and only possible thanks to Erica Gomez who has been a fantastic partner to…

The world is coming to terms with our impact on climate change. Our industry acutely recognizes this and, due to our tight connection with land and weather, are at the forefront of trying to reconcile our impact. Whether with Dan Petroski in Napa, Miguel Torres in Spain, Antonio Graca in…

It’s that time of year again and in conjunction with the SVB Annual Report I’m releasing the updated landscape of DTC vendors. So first, it got a whole new name thanks to the marketing & design help from Erica Gomez. This new format gives us a lot of room to…

It seems like everyone wants to work in the wine industry. It’s elegant. It’s the epitome of luxury. It’s sophisticated. Just like in Hollywood, we have lines of people trying to break into the wine industry — either because of their passion for wine or their passion for the lifestyle. …

Through my lengthy, rewarding, and challenging wine career, I’ve not only seen some of the hardest trials of my life, I’ve been tasked with them, too. When I sat down to write a recent article for The Buyer, I began considering these challenges, reliving all of them in their own…

Quick interlude blog — after participating in the most recent SVB DTC Webinar (the “After Dark” session) I gained a new clarity about the future of online winery sales. For the first time, I could see the market dynamics catalyzing change like never before, and simultaneously the wine industry awakening…